1. Field of the Invention
A certain aspect of the present invention relates to an electronic apparatus, a software update method for the electronic apparatus, and a computer-readable storage medium storing program code for causing a computer to perform the software update method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-160687 discloses an image forming apparatus where power is supplied to a network interface card (NIC) and a CPU by a power control I/O to enable reception of an email message even when the main power switch is turned off. When receiving an email message, the disclosed image forming apparatus retrieves new or updated firmware and store the new firmware in, for example, a flash ROM.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-067171 discloses an image processing apparatus having a power saving mode (or an energy saving mode) for reducing power consumption. If a firmware update request is received when the power saving mode is not active, the disclosed image processing apparatus' updates firmware and then switches to the power saving mode.
Here, an actual update of firmware needs to be performed while an electronic apparatus is in normal operating conditions (normal mode) even when there is no job to be processed.
With the image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-160687, it is necessary to constantly activate many hardware components and therefore it is difficult to effectively save energy.
With the image processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-067171, it is not possible to receive a firmware update request and to update firmware unless the power saving mode is cancelled. In other words, the disclosed image processing apparatus can perform a firmware update process only in the normal mode and therefore cannot effectively save energy.